Minister Of Finance Sri Mulyani: Indonesia Loses IDR 1,356 Trillion Due To The COVID-19 Pandemic

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani said that Indonesia lost an economic value of around IDR 1,356 trillion due to the COVID-19 pandemic that occurred throughout 2020. This value is equivalent to 8.8 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) structure which was recorded at IDR 15,434, 2 trillion.

"This estimate is based on the projection of economic growth which was targeted at 5.5 percent in 2020 before the pandemic, but the realization is actually minus 2 percent", she said in a virtual press conference, Thursday, April 29.

Minister of Finance added that the impact of the pandemic contained a deep economic decline. Therefore, the APBN (State Budget) as a fiscal instrument tries to restrain the contraction rate through various policies and stimuli.

"This results in us experiencing a budget deficit exceeding 3 percent of GDP", she said.

However, the Minister of Finance explained that the deficit was still better than that of several countries, such as the United States with 15.6 percent, China with 11.9 percent, and Japan with 14.2 percent. Meanwhile, Indonesia experienced a budget deficit of 6.1 percent in 2020.

"In the future, the provision of fiscal stimulus and deficit still needs to be controlled to maintain a safe level of debt and a healthy fiscal", she said.

For information, in the 2021 APBN (State Budget), the government targets state revenue of IDR 1,743 trillion. This amount will be supported by tax revenues of IDR 1,229 trillion, customs and excise IDR 215 trillion. Then, Non-Tax State Revenues of IDR 298 trillion, as well as grants of IDR 900 billion.

Meanwhile, for expenditure, a budget of IDR 2,750 trillion is allocated. This figure causes the APBN structure to experience a deficit of around IDR 1,000 trillion which is fulfilled through several funds released by the government.

"This is a difficult choice but it must be done, namely between making the state budget healthy and the economy, as well as continuing development. This is all carried out in a good balance and remains sustainable", concluded Sri Mulyani.